OAKLAND, Calif. — Nursing a three-point lead and backed up to the shadow of his own goal posts,
rookie Brandon Weeden engineered a touchdown drive that gave the Cleveland Browns a happy plane
ride home for a change and hope for a much brighter future.

Weeden threw for a career-high 364 yards and a touchdown and made key plays on the clinching
94-yard drive that helped the Browns snap a 12-game road losing streak by beating the Oakland
Raiders 20-17 yesterday.

“That was kind of a statement,” Weeden said. “We strung together a lot of really good plays.
That shows the potential we have as an offense, and that’s encouraging. We had a lot of guys make
different plays.”

Weeden hit fellow rookie Josh Gordon on a 44-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and Trent
Richardson scored on a 3-yard run after Sheldon Brown made a key interception deep in Cleveland
territory when the Raiders (3-9) were driving for the potential tying or go-ahead score in the
fourth quarter.

It all added up to the first road win for the Browns (4-8) since beating Indianapolis 27-19 in
the second game of the 2011 season.

The skid started a few weeks later with a loss at Oakland.

“You don’t want streaks like that,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “Let’s face it: Over the last few
years, we haven’t done a great job of winning games. And so, as we take this journey with this
young football team, they’re starting to learn.”

The Raiders have lost five straight for the first time since a six-game losing streak in Lane
Kiffin’s first year as coach in 2006 and have been eliminated from playoff contention for a 10th
straight year.

The biggest blunder for the Raiders came when rookie Juron Criner used a double move to get
behind Brown and Carson Palmer underthrew the deep ball with Oakland already in position for a
tying field goal.

Brown intercepted the pass at the 6-yard line, and Weeden engineered an impressive drive
beginning with 9:31 to play.

“I was trying to take a shot there, go for the touchdown quickly and just didn’t put the ball in
the right spot, didn’t give Juron a chance to make a play on the ball,” Palmer said.

Weeden completed an 11-yard pass on third-and-3 to Gordon to get the Browns started and also had
a big 22-yard pass to tight end Benjamin Watson.

Weeden then converted a fourth-and-1 sneak from the Oakland 45, and the Raiders’ Desmond Bryant
jumped offside on a third-and-1 from the 10.

Richardson scored two plays later to make it 20-10 with 3:27 to go, as the Browns won for the
fourth time in seven games since an 0-5 start to match last season’s win total.

“Probably a defining drive of the season,” Brown said. “We had an opportunity to see the
character of that offense.”

Cleveland has been improved defensively of late, and Weeden had one of his best games as a pro.
He completed 25 of 36 passes and overcame two first-half interceptions.

Richardson ran for 72 yards and Gordon had six catches for 116 yards as Cleveland took advantage
of Oakland’s struggling defense.